Our subject now is one of almost unlimited extent, for we are to call as “witnesses” the races of the world. We are to take the evidence of Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, and of all the nations, tongues, peoples, and languages that are dispersed throughout them; and we are to consider the evidence which they bear to the inspiration of the Scriptures.

As some limit must be put to such an enquiry, I propose to confine our thoughts to the study of one passage of Scripture; viz., Gen. ix. 25–27, “Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.” Some people appear to speak with great disrespect of the Pentateuch. It is well, therefore, to take from it an ancient prophecy, and to study first the historical truth, and secondly the prophetical accuracy of these remarkable words.

I. The Historical Truth.

It is not an uncommon thing in these days to set science in opposition to the Scriptures, and to speak as if the one were opposed to the other. As a general rule, the persons who do so are persons who have a very shallow acquaintance with either, for the truly scientific man, and the true student of the Scriptures, are both so conscious of their own limited attainments in the face of the vast fields of unlimited knowledge which are still unexplored, that they are sure to feel humbly on the subject, and to be very shy of bold assertions respecting matters that they do not understand. But, instead of science being opposed to the Scriptures, we are quite prepared to call in science as a witness to its truth; for science is the study of the creation of God, and it would be indeed strange if His own works were at variance with His Word. So we will turn now, if God permit, to one of the great results of modern scientific discovery, and see what testimony it bears to the truth of the Pentateuch.

The particular branch to which I would refer is what is called “Ethnology,” or the study of the nations of the world. This is comparatively quite a modern science, for it is only quite lately that the world has been thrown open to the investigation of scientific men. The two means by which it has been thrown open have been the steam-engine, and Christian missions. The steam-engine has enabled investigators to travel in all directions, and Christian missions have led to the study of hundreds of languages that were previously unknown.

The history of one of these languages is worth recording. When the late Mr. Darwin visited the islands of Tierra del Fuego, in the celebrated voyage of the Beagle, he considered the inhabitants to be below ordinary manhood, and to have no language. But a devoted missionary, settled amongst them, has not only found that they have a language, but he has learned it, reduced it to writing, and translated into it the Gospel of St. Luke. It has been printed by the British and Foreign Bible Society, and is now read amongst the people. Mr. Darwin, being a truly scientific man, was so deeply interested at the discovery of his own mistake, that for the last few years of his life he subscribed £5 a year to the South American Missionary Society.

Thus the missionary movement has brought about a vast increase of scientific knowledge respecting the languages of the world, and scientific men have had before them a mass of fresh material to which their predecessors had no access whatever. The British and Foreign Bible Society has circulated the Scriptures in no less than 250 languages, by far the greater number of which had never before been reduced to writing. By this means there has been an immense impetus given to the researches of scientific men. The two points to which especial attention has been directed have been the structure of language, and the formation of the skull. On these two points men of science have most carefully collected information from all quarters of the globe—north, south, east, and west; and they have endeavoured to group, or classify, the various scattered nations of mankind.

And now I come to the most remarkable and assuring fact, that, after patient, laborious, and most elaborate scientific comparison, they have come to the conclusion that all the nations of the earth may be grouped into three great families, and have probably descended from three original centres. They name these three great divisions the Aryan, the Semitic, and the Turanian. But we need not trouble ourselves about the names. The classification itself is the matter of supreme importance; for in this discovery of the nineteenth century we find the full confirmation of the account, written by Moses more than 3,000 years ago, of the three sons of Noah surviving the flood more than 4,000 years ago. In that narrative we find the account of mankind starting afresh under three heads, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Since that time there have elapsed more than 4,000 years, and now, in this nineteenth century, after all the changes that have taken place, we find a body of learned and unprejudiced men, enabled by the discovery of steam to discover amongst mankind, as we now exist, precisely the same threefold division that is described in the Scriptures as having taken place in the days of Noah. Now how are we to explain this fact? What is the cause of this strange coincidence? It is utterly impossible that the Mosaic record should have been constructed in order to suit the scientific discoveries of our own day. And those who honour science would be the last to admit that men of science have constructed their system on the lines of the Mosaic record. But, there is one word that is a key to the whole, one word that is the connecting-link between the fifteenth century before Christ, and the nineteenth century after Him; between the statements of the Scripture and the researches of science, and that one word settles all. That one word is Truth, truth in science, and truth in Scripture; truth in the Word, and truth in the works of God.

But we have not yet done with history, for the tenth chapter of Genesis gives us some idea of the direction in which these three great families spread themselves over the surface of the globe. A moment’s thought will be sufficient to show that it must be next to impossible to trace these descriptions now. Vast changes have taken place during the 4,000 years that have elapsed. Cities have sprung up and disappeared; whole nations have risen to power, and passed away; names have changed; there have been migrations, invasions, captivities, and dispersions; so that the different families have in many cases been strangely intermingled. But still there is a certain outline given in the Pentateuch, and a certain outline agreed upon by the men of science. Now look at this outline.

Begin with Japheth. Amongst his sons we meet with three well-known names, all connected by Ezekiel (xxxviii.) with the north; viz., Mesech, Tubal, and Togarmah, leading us to suppose that his descendants most probably spread along the North of Europe and Asia; and in Genesis x. 5 it is added, “By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations”—an expression invariably used for Europe, and all countries approached from central Asia by sea. Now, curiously enough, that very district, Europe and Northern Asia, is regarded by the men of science as the head-quarters of those whom they call the Aryans.

As for Shem, there is no difficulty in ascertaining his head-quarters, for Abraham was his lineal descendant; and we know that from the river of Egypt to the river Euphrates was the country given him by God. That country, therefore, was his starting-point; and accordingly men of science tell us that Western Asia, including Palestine and the adjacent countries, must have been the home of the great Semitic family. Again, therefore, there is the closest possible agreement between ancient history and modern discovery.

The case of Ham is not so perfectly clear. According to the book of Genesis he appears, if we understand the names, to have spread in two directions—eastward towards Southern Asia, and also south-west to Gaza, the gateway to Africa. Though Africa is not mentioned in that passage it is clear that the descendants of Ham spread over the isthmus of Suez into that continent; for in Psalm cv. 23, 27, Egypt is actually called “the land of Ham.” And now once more I turn to the men of science, and I find that these very districts are thought by them to be the ancient homes of those they call Turanians. Now, let it be well understood, I do not say that these outlines are never crossed, and that the races are not found in many cases to be intermixed. But what I do say is, that in their great local outlines the arrangements of the men of science correspond, in a very remarkable manner, with the arrangements which we gather from all that we can learn from the Scripture history. Once more then modern discovery bears its testimony to Scriptural accuracy, and we welcome the men of science as unanswerable “witnesses” to historical truth.

II. The Prophecy.

Thus far we have not gone beyond the historical truth of the Pentateuch; but now let us turn to the prophecy,—that most remarkable prophecy of Noah, in which he foreshadowed the future destiny of the great families. Let us consider the three prophecies in the order in which they stand.

(1.) Canaan. There is something inexpressibly awful in the words respecting Canaan, and they are full of instruction respecting sin. They show what an awful thing sin is in the sight of God, and how superficial is man’s estimate of its guilt; for here is a whole race laid under a solemn curse in consequence of the sin of its head. As Adam brought a curse on the world, so Ham brought one on Canaan. The curse inflicted in that case was bondage, and the prophecy was that Canaan should be a servant of servants to both his brethren: i.e. to both Shem and Japheth. And now look at the fulfilment.

Take first a period about 1,000 years after the prophecy was given, when the Canaanites were still in the promised land, and Israel, the descendants of Shem, came up from Egypt. The conflict then was between Shem and Canaan, and what was the result? The greater part of the Canaanites were destroyed, and those that remained were reduced to abject slavery. The prediction was fulfilled, and Canaan became the slave of Shem.

But some may say that all that was a long time ago, and only matter of ancient history.

Let us then turn to our own times, and consider facts that are within our own observation. How is it that our own West Indian islands are peopled with negroes? Is it not because we English made slaves of the Africans, or, in other words, because Japheth made a slave of Canaan? How is it that there is a negro population amounting to 4,000,000 in the United States? Is it not for the name reason, that Japheth made a slave of Canaan? How is it that up to the year 1807, when the slave trade was abolished, the West Coast of Africa was made the hunting-ground for all the leading nations of Europe? What was it but the simple fulfilment of this prophecy, in which it was foretold that Japheth should make a slave of Canaan?

And now turn to the Eastern coast of Africa, and the present negotiations now going on in Egypt. One of the great difficulties of these negotiations arises from the horrors of the East African slave trade. There is an extensive trade in slaves being carried on at this very time all along the East Coast of Africa. There are gangs of miserable victims being driven at this very hour to the principal slave markets. And who are the great offenders in that most nefarious and wicked traffic? The Arabs, some still living in Arabia, and some settled in Egypt at the time of the great Arab invasion of the country. And who are the Arabs, and to which race do they belong? I believe it is agreed by all parties that they are Semitic, or from Shem. So that the result is that poor Canaan has been enslaved by both his brethren—on the west by Japheth, and on the east by Shem; and however deeply we deplore the woes of Africa, and however earnestly we should arise as one man to urge our rulers to use their powers to put down the accursed trade, we must look on the fact of its existence with reverent wonder, and learn from those miserable slave gangs a most solemn lesson as to the abiding truth of the prophecies of God.

(2.) But now let us turn to Shem, where we have a brighter prospect; for on the mention of his name the prophet exclaims, “Blessed be the Lord God of Shem,” or rather, “Blessed be Jehovah, the God of Shem.” Now here we have not merely an act of praise, but a prophecy; for there is a clear prediction that Jehovah should be the God of Shem. Canaan and Japheth might worship devils and false gods, and bow down before man-made idols; but the God of Shem should be Jehovah Himself, and Shem should be distinguished by the fact that Jehovah should be his God. And is not this precisely what has happened? Up to the time of our blessed Saviour what nation was there in the world that worshipped Jehovah except the seed of Abraham? It was the sacred calling of that family to stand out alone as witnesses before an apostate world to the great principle—“Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.” It was Shem, and Shem alone, that worshipped the one self-existent, omnipotent, omnipresent, and everlasting Jehovah.

The great prophecy, therefore, was most literally fulfilled in fact. But if we understand the name “Jehovah” as applied to the promised seed of the woman, the Saviour who was to come, the fulfilment is still more remarkable; for it was in the line of Shem that the Coming One appeared. No trouble is taken in the Scriptures to record the genealogies of either Ham or Japheth, and they terminate with two generations. But the sacred line of Shem is carefully preserved. We have every link given, from Adam to Abraham, and after that from Abraham to the Lord Jesus; so that if we thus understand the title Jehovah, the prophecy would mean, Blessed be the Coming One, the Lord Jesus, the Christ, the God of Shem; and we should see in it the prophecy that the coming deliverer, the deliverer promised to Eve, should arise out of the family of Shem, so that in him and his seed should all nations of the world be blessed. I need not stop to point out how exactly this prophecy was fulfilled in the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ about 2,300 years after it was spoken by Noah.

(3.) But now for Japheth.

The meaning of the name is generally considered to be “enlargement,” and the prophecy is that he should be enlarged. The meaning of this must be, that he should be gifted with what may be termed a spreading power. His great characteristic is to be expansion, or, the enlargement of his borders. Now think for one moment of Europe and Europeans. Think of Europe as the home of the sons of Japheth according to the Scriptures, or of the Aryans according to the men of science. And may we not appeal to any one who will take the trouble to look around the world at this present day, and ask whether this power of spreading is not one of the most peculiar and exceptional features of the European family? Ham and Shem are not spreading anywhere; but Japheth everywhere. Why, look at this little island of our own—one of the very least of the “isles of the Gentiles”—and see how its people have spread. Not only has it peopled the vast continent of America, but it possesses at this present time such a colonial empire that the sun never sets on the dominions of our Queen. Most truly and most remarkably in our own case has God enlarged Japheth, and so made England a “witness to the truth” of the prophecy which He gave through Noah no less than 4,000 years ago.

But there still remains that last clause, “He shall dwell in the tents of Shem,” and, as we ought never to speak too dogmatically respecting the prophetic Word, I am free to admit that it is not perfectly clear in what sense it should be understood.

It may refer to the spreading of the Europeans into all the nations of the world, and so dwelling in the tents of Shem; and if there were nothing more than our own settlements in foreign lands, there would be the most complete fulfilment of the prophecy.

But surely there is more. And especially there is one remarkable fulfilment, which I cannot help thinking must have been intended in the prophecy. Now let us remember that the Lord and His coming is the centre, or turning-point, of the whole prophetic Word. Let us not forget how we found that the prophecy respecting Shem appeared distinctly to foretell His advent. Now when the predicted time came, and the promised Jehovah appeared, why did He not take His place on the throne of David, and why did He not reign in the tents of Shem? The Holy Land had all been given to Abraham, and belonged to the family of Shem; but when the Lord, the God of Shem, came, there was neither throne nor kingdom for Him, and He had not even where to lay His head. How could this be? And what had become of the royal throne? The answer is most remarkable. The Romans were on it, or, in prophetic words, Japheth was dwelling in the tents of Shem. The Romans were sons of Japheth, and by them the Lord, the God of Shem, was supplanted on His throne.

But, though that was a clear, literal, and most remarkable fulfilment of the prophecy, I cannot help thinking that in these words the Spirit of God referred to something higher. When St. James was speaking of the call of the Gentiles at what has been termed the council of Jerusalem, as recorded, Acts xv. 15, he quoted the words, “I will build again the tabernacle of David.” The conversion of the Gentiles was compared, therefore, to their admission into the tabernacle of David. And so the safety of the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ is compared by David himself to the shelter of God’s tabernacle, as, e.g., in Psalm xxvii. 5, where we read, “In the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me.” Now, bearing in mind the great fact that Jehovah is the God of Shem, and that the predicted Redeemer came from Shem, may we not believe that the tent, or the tabernacle of Shem, was the prophetic figure of the safety provided in the promised Son of God? The word Shem means “name,” and there may be something in the passage not unlike those other words, “The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.” Now if the passage were so understood, it would lead to the conclusion that Japheth would shelter himself under the Jehovah of Shem, and so dwell, as it were, in his tent, or under his tabernacle. It would lead us to expect a salvation through the Jehovah of Shem, bestowed on Japheth in such a way that Japheth should become possessor of Shem’s inheritance.

Now if that view of the prophecy commend itself to your judgment, remember that Noah spoke more than 4,000 years ago, and then look at the present position of the world. In what quarters of the globe do we find at this present time the most general recognition of the God of Shem? Which of the continents are most prominent in the honour paid to His name? Certainly neither Africa nor Asia; neither Ham nor even Shem itself. Beyond all controversy the two great Christian continents that are dwelling under Jehovah of Shem are the two peopled by Japheth; viz., Europe and America. Explain it as we may, the facts are most remarkable. The Lord Jesus Christ came from Shem, and, according to the language of scientific men, was Semitic, whereas by far the great majority of those who believe in His Name are from Japheth, or, according to men of science, Aryans. Shem has rejected its own Saviour; but Japheth has received Him, so that, under our own eyes, and at this present time, Japheth is dwelling in the tents of Shem. I know well how grievous a perversion of truth there is throughout Europe, and I do not for one moment maintain that the worship is pure; but still the name of Jehovah, the God of Shem, as manifested in the Lord Jesus Christ, is avowedly honoured, and we sons of Japheth are at this present moment abiding in His tent.

Now how are we to explain all this? How are we to explain the agreement between the conclusions of modern science and the historical fact of the threefold division which occurred more than 4,000 years ago? How again are we to account for the fulfilment of the prophetic Word? How do we explain the fact that, in exact accord with the prophecy, Canaan is the servant of servants; that it was from Shem that the Lord appeared; that Japheth is at this day remarkable for enlargement; and that we ourselves at this very moment are assembled to worship in the house of the God of Shem? It is impossible to believe that the book of Genesis was written to suit the conclusions of modern science; for these conclusions were utterly unknown at the time of its composition. It is impossible to believe that it is the result of design in our scientific men, for such an idea would indeed dishonour science. It is equally impossible to believe that the agreement was the result of chance or accident; for there are far too many points, both in the history and prophecy, to render such accidental coincidence possible. It is like a complicated lock which can only be opened by the key that was made to fit it. No; there is only one solution of the problem. As for the history, science agrees with it, and therefore confirms its truth; and as for the prophecy, it could have had its origin in no human calculation of the future; for how should Noah make any calculation respecting the state of this nineteenth century? But all is plain if we believe it to be inspired. He who inspired the prophecy, He saw the end from the beginning. He knew all, and by the lips of Noah he foretold what he foreknew; and thus we are brought to the conclusion, so plainly stated by St. Peter—“The prophecy came not in old time by the will of man; but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”